Artico Leather
What is Artico Leather?
Artico Leather is a word Mercedes has given to its new material. Hence the word Artico = Artificial!
Mercedes have been very clever in the production of Artico Leather, it’s made to look and feel just like traditional pigmented leather.
But the closest Artico comes to being genuine leather is when you sit on your Mercedes seats with genuine leather trousers on!
Using the term leather in the description of Artico Leather will make the public easily misled into thinking they have some special form of leather, you couldn’t be further from the truth, as it isn’t leather.
Industry standards are getting tighter each year and the norm states that for an item to be called leather it must be genuine leather.
Legal Definition, BS 2780 (1983) Definition.
- If the leather has a surface coating, the mean thickness of this surface layer, however applied, must be 0.15mm or less & does not exceed 30% of the overall thickness.
- If the tanned hide or skin is disintegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces or powder and then, with or without combination of a binding agent, is made into sheets or forms, these such sheets are not leather.
Mercedes Artico Leather Seats – Synthetic vinyl
This material is meant to be more environmentally friendly, but since it doesn’t last very long and can deteriorate very quickly how can it be classed as more environmentally friendly when it must replaced very quickly?
For something to be environmentally friendly it must be sustainable, but when something can only last a few years before replacement, how is this helping the environment? It’s harming it!
To continue to produce artificial leathers is more damaging to the environment than you could ever imagine, so leather is forever. It’s safer, it’s better, it’s more durable and is much better for our environment.
When taking care of your artificial leather, care must be taken on what products you use, it’s best not to use a product with oils in them as this can cause damage to the pleather coating, it’s best to use a product that leaves a coating behind to help stop dirt build up and dye transfer.
Damaged Artico Leather Seats in a Mercedes
In a BMW they also use synthetic / vinyl seats called Sensatec